Scan barcode
A review by bekkah_co
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I do understand why this book is loved. I can get behind the premise, but for me, I walked away frustrated at the messy characters and frustrated at the style. There is something incredibly human about the characters but they fell flat and too shallow to really connect to. Daisy Jones, the Six, and Camila just feel like a hypothetical "This is probably what rock stars are like". I struggled to understand the motivations of the characters (despite the fact their motivations are often literally spelt out).
The style does not really lend to scene setting well. With the whole text being formatted as an interview, it is very painfully unimaginative. It's hard to picture the spaces that the characters are inhabiting and how they physically interact with each other. In school we all hear the notion of "show, not tell" when we start writing. Given the nature of this novel, it was all tell and no show. I want to experience the sensations the band experienced, not have them told to me on the page as dialogue jumps between one white man to the next.
Due to the style, the characters seems to blend together. The men, in particular, really became a blob of amorphous white-male-rock-star-from-the-70s. I think the only one who really broke free from this was Billy. Billy was such a fascinating, frustrating character. I wish that Billy would have kept the boundaries he set up throughout the book. The whole emotional affair between Daisy and Billy was infuriating. The fact Camila ultimately just watched is even more so. Billy, throughout the novel, goes on about how much he loves Camila but then he continues to have an emotional affair/cheats on her.
Billy Dunne and Daisy Jones are both insufferable. Daisy Jones is a typical Mary Sue character that has everything handed to her because of how hot and how talented she is. Daisy Jones was a victim. There are notions of her hanging around and having sex with older men. TJR tries to balance the notion that she slept her way to the top as sexual liberation, but no, Daisy is just a victim. She gets hooked on drugs and alcohol and that becomes the rest of her personality. She has no awareness of her actions and the chaos she is causing. Billy is just as bad. Sure, he gets clean for his family, but as the novel progresses it is very clear that his family is not his priority.
I am someone who does tend to really appreciate adherence to near historical accuracy, but there were times that I wish TJR would have taken some liberties with this being a fiction book. Karen, who was one of my favorite characters, really got the short end of the stick. There was an opportunity there to platform the rather open, pro-choice movements that was occurring during the 70s. The fact that Graham said what he said really took me off guard. We see their relationship grow but then it shatters with a choice that Karen needed to make for herself and that there was an absolute refusal for an actual adult conversation. Let this text breathe. It's okay to write a pro-choice man in the 70s.
Overall, it's a fine read. What is described is written well, but the book was lack a lot for me.
ALSO: What the hell was up with that email? Why would someone include that in an interview that is going to be released to the public about their father and the woman he cheated on your mom with. I don't care that your mom is dead. It is weird as hell that after all this time, Daisy still occupies this much of Camila's and Billy's relationship with each other and their family.
The style does not really lend to scene setting well. With the whole text being formatted as an interview, it is very painfully unimaginative. It's hard to picture the spaces that the characters are inhabiting and how they physically interact with each other. In school we all hear the notion of "show, not tell" when we start writing. Given the nature of this novel, it was all tell and no show. I want to experience the sensations the band experienced, not have them told to me on the page as dialogue jumps between one white man to the next.
Due to the style, the characters seems to blend together. The men, in particular, really became a blob of amorphous white-male-rock-star-from-the-70s. I think the only one who really broke free from this was Billy. Billy was such a fascinating, frustrating character. I wish that Billy would have kept the boundaries he set up throughout the book. The whole emotional affair between Daisy and Billy was infuriating. The fact Camila ultimately just watched is even more so. Billy, throughout the novel, goes on about how much he loves Camila but then he continues to have an emotional affair/cheats on her.
Billy Dunne and Daisy Jones are both insufferable. Daisy Jones is a typical Mary Sue character that has everything handed to her because of how hot and how talented she is. Daisy Jones was a victim. There are notions of her hanging around and having sex with older men. TJR tries to balance the notion that she slept her way to the top as sexual liberation, but no, Daisy is just a victim. She gets hooked on drugs and alcohol and that becomes the rest of her personality. She has no awareness of her actions and the chaos she is causing. Billy is just as bad. Sure, he gets clean for his family, but as the novel progresses it is very clear that his family is not his priority.
I am someone who does tend to really appreciate adherence to near historical accuracy, but there were times that I wish TJR would have taken some liberties with this being a fiction book. Karen, who was one of my favorite characters, really got the short end of the stick. There was an opportunity there to platform the rather open, pro-choice movements that was occurring during the 70s. The fact that Graham said what he said really took me off guard. We see their relationship grow but then it shatters with a choice that Karen needed to make for herself and that there was an absolute refusal for an actual adult conversation. Let this text breathe. It's okay to write a pro-choice man in the 70s.
Overall, it's a fine read. What is described is written well, but the book was lack a lot for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Alcohol
Moderate: Pedophilia and Abortion